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In case you’re wondering, Monaco-Ville, which sits across the harbor from Monte Carlo, is the actual capital of Monaco. But let’s face it, when people think about the principality, what they are really thinking about is Monte Carlo, that playground to the rich, powerful, rich, famous, rich, glamorous, and exorbitantly wealthy. A city that glitters in opulence, where the streets are paved with gold, diamonds rain from the sky. Okay, not really. But you get the point.
Likewise, when most wine drinkers think of Semillon , they are thinking about only one thing: Sauternes, that sweet golden nectar from southern Bordeaux. A wine rich, expensive, and limited in production that its traditional pairing partner is the one food that can match it step for step in luxury and decadence: foie gras. Oui, madames et messieurs, to some Monte Carlo is to Monaco as Sauternes is to Semillon, a singular definition for something that is so much more. And at Friends of the Forgotten Grapes, we’re trying to change that way of thinking one entry at a time.
Think about it this way: Monaco may only cover 0.76 square miles of territory (you could fit two Monacos into Central Park), but if you only define Monaco by Monte Carlo, you lose out on five other sections of the country (see the map above), at least 0.5 square miles of territory, and some really terrific parts of the principality, such as the royal palace, the National Museum, the soccer stadium, the Oceanographic museum, and the exotic gardens, just to name a few.
The same holds true if you define Semillon only by Sauternes. You’d miss out on some terrific, dry, crisp 100% varietal wines and a grape that also blends well with both Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Semillon is by nature a tough, hearty grape that for several decades was the most widely-planted grape in the world and is still grown in numerous old-world and new-world wine regions around the globe. It’s a grape that sometimes tastes similar to a Sauvignon Blanc, and yet is still completely different, with brighter citrus, less grassiness, and a lighter, paler color. Semillon is a wine that is a powerhouse match with fish and seafood, some would say the ideal match with both dishes, because it won’t overpower their delicateness like a heavy Chardonnay or an overly grassy Sauv Blanc can. But most of all, Semillon is a wonderful, drinkable, Forgotten Grape that is so much more than just the grape used to make Sauternes. Wine drinkers need to be broken of this mind-set, and we’re just the website to do it.
Now, we’re not saying that you should ignore the majesty of Sauternes completely. On the contrary, we believe that Sauternes is a wine that everyone in this world should taste at least once in their life and something all wine lovers should be consuming more of (although this would probably jack up the price of already high price of Sauternes exponentially given how hard the wine currently is to produce and how
scarce it already is, so scratch that last thought). Let’s face it: Semillon wouldn’t have a hundredth of the popularity it has today if it wasn’t for Sauternes, and I suspect Semillon would feel awfully unfulfilled and depressed if it wasn’t allowed to be made into Sauternes (yes, I just personified a grape). We won’t be ignoring Sauternes this week, and neither should you. But you also shouldn’t be ignoring all the other wonderful
wines that define Semillon as well, and that’s the point we’re trying to hammer home here. We hope you’ll be our nail. So sit back, put all your chips into the center of
the table, and join us on a few quick laps around the winding street track as we
take a broader look at SEMILLON, the Monaco of Forgotten Grapes.
What It Looks Like, What It Smells Like, and What It Tastes Like
Dry Semillons are youngish wines, so you’re not going to get an overwhelming perfume-y nose on them by any stretch of the imagination. The scents you’ll get on a Semillon will be very dry and crisp, similar to a Sauvignon Blanc but not grassy (the similarities between the wines are why they are such well-matched blending partners). You will get guava and other tropical fruits, maybe some orange or Mandarin orange even an orange cream (like a Creamsicle...mmmmm). There might even be a flavor like Lemonheads (Remember them? It’s a shame about Ray...). But dry (not dried) tropical citrus fruit is the key aroma in a Semillon wine.
As for Sauternes-style Semillons, the most notable aroma you are going to smell on a freshly opened bottle is honey. Lots and lots of honey. You also should get just a whiff of an antiseptic glycerin smell from the botrytis to go along with the honey, as well as some exotic fruits, apricots, caramelized citrus, and even some florals depending on the producer. But all of these other scents will smell like they’ve just been dipped into and pulled out of a big Winnie the Pooh-style pot of honey. Oh bother.
If it looks like a Sauvignon Blanc and smells like a Sauvignon Blanc, then you’d expect it to taste like a Sauvignon Blanc. And with dry Semillons, you’d be partially correct. You’re definitely going to get a dry, sharp, citrus snap to a Semillon – more tropical fruits like the guava and some pineapple and even a Limeade flavor in there. It might start out with just a touch of sweetness too but then develop quickly into the more sour, acidic citrus fruit flavors. Don’t be afraid; the acid is a good thing. The wine should be very dry and very clean on the finish, with only the slightest hint of an aftertaste too. What it doesn’t have is Sauv Blanc’s grassy, earthy, sometimes vegetal flavors (good riddance!), which in many ways makes it superior to a Sauv Blanc, depending on what you’re eating and what kind of mood your mouth is in when you’re drinking.
For a Sauternes Semillon, it’s all about the balance, between the honey and the citrus and the acidity and the syrupy creaminess of the wine’s viscosity. Mouth feel is as important as taste when it comes to Sauternes. The same glycerin aroma should be at the forefront of your palate, though not overwhelmingly so. You’ll also get burnt orange, pineapple, apricot, lemon, and even some vanilla flavors. But that medicinal honey flavor is what Sauternes is best known for, and what you should be expecting when sip this glorious wine.
• Semillon (pronounced: SEM-ee-yon) is a historically robust grape that, despite its thin skin, is easy to cultivate, produces large numbers of grapes per vine, and is rather resistant to most types of disease (except for one particular fungus – more on this in a second). For those reasons, Semillon is grown in several different countries around the world (including France, Australia, the U.S., South Africa, Chile, and recently Argentina, New Zealand, and Canada), but no longer commands the same popularity it did decades ago, when it was the most widely-planted grape in the world. A few facts and figures to demonstrate Semillon’s once-global dominance: as far back as the 1820s, Semillon grapes composed 90% of South Africa’s vineyards (that number is down to around 1% today) and in Chile in the 1950s, Semillon accounted for nearly 75% of all grapes produced (that number is substantially lower now, though Semillon is still Chile’s second most widely-grown grape). In France’s Bordeaux region, Semillon was the most widely-planted grape, red or white (take that, Cab & Merlot!), up until 1968. Even California has had an up-and-down love affair with Semillon. Acreages of the grape nearly doubled between 1961 and 1981, but then almost halved between 1981 and today.
• Despite the presence of Semillon in so many of the pre-eminent wine-producing nations of the world, Semillon is still considered a minor or secondary grape in most of them and is used primarily as a blending grape. In Bordeaux, for example, excepting for the Sauternes and Barsac regions, Semillon production is generally limited to the regions of Pessac-Léognan, Graves, and Entre-deux-mers, where it is blended in small amounts with Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle (the other legally allowed grapes in Bordeaux blanc wines) to add sweetness and balance acidity. The same goes for South Africa, where Semillon is known locally as Wyndruif, which translates literally to “wine grape,” so named because of the grape’s previous prevalence in the country. Today the grape is almost exclusively used as to blend in with their Sauvignon Blanc. Ditto California and especially New Zealand, where Semillon is blended with both Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
• The two exceptions to this blatant subjugation of Semillon are in the Sauternes/Barsac appellations of France (which I’m getting to. Jeez, you’re impatient!) and, not surprisingly, Australia, which has a long history of doing nutty things with less popular grapes. Semillon growth has been wide-spread throughout Australia, which makes sense since the grape has had a presence on the continent for over 200 years. The best examples of Australian Semillon come from the Hunter Valley area north of Sydney (where for a long time Semillon wine were called Hunter Valley Riesling), although fine Semillon is also grown in the Barossa Valley, near the Margaret River, and in the Adelaide Hills above, you guessed it, Adelaide.
• Botrytis cinerea. An organic plight to many farmers, but to winemakers in the southern Sauternes and Barsac appellations of Bordeaux (and to other smaller independent winemakers around the world), their friend and lifeblood. For Botrytis cinerea is the magical fungus that produces the so-called “noble rot” that turns ordinary Semillon grapes into the thick, rich sweet liquid gold that is Sauternes. Compared to other Bordeaux blanc wines, Semillon is the primary grape used to make Sauternes, with 75% or more of the wine coming from the juice of botrytisized Semillon grapes.
Botrytis normally affects grapes that have been subjected to very wet periods followed by very dry periods. Botrytis can also strike grapes that have gone through continuous wet periods with no drying, but this form of the fungus, called “gray rot,” actually destroys the fruit and does not produce any wine at all, let alone ones of stellar character. Sauternes winemakers allow their grapes to remain on the vine well past ripeness so that the fungus can take effect and begin desiccating the grapes, drying them out naturally while leaving behind a concentration of the grape’s natural sugars along with tartaric acid, which during fermentation turns into glycerol. That is what gives Sauternes their thicker, more viscous bodies and mouth feel. The smaller amount of super-sweetened juice left in each grape means that botrytisized Semillon yields substantially less juice than other Bordeaux grape (around 12 hectoliters per hectare compared to an average of 45 hectoliters per hectare for other grapes). Because of the extra care and work required to harvest the rotting grapes and the unpredictable nature of both the weather and the fungus – which can render specific bunches or sometimes entire crops unusable – Sauternes are some of the most expensive wines in the world, the best of the best – and in fact, the only Premier Cru Superieur Sauternes chateau – being Chateau d’Yquem [duh-KEM, or yuh-KEM, if you drop the “Chateau d’” part], which limits its yields to only 9 hectoliters per hectare.
Sauternes is a wine that, because of its higher sugar content and viscous nature, can
be cellared for centuries and still remain drinkable. Or so I’ve heard and read.
(Note: if any reader out there wants to send us a bottle of 100+ year old
Sauternes to test, we’ll be glad to share it with you and let everyone else on ForgottenGrapes.com know what it tastes like. You know where to find us.)
Fun Facts to Impress/Bore People At Parties
From Brein’s Brain to Your Plate
“Much like Sauvignon Blancs, dry Semillons are really excellent white fish and seafood wines, because their acidic crispness contrasts nicely with the mellow fishiness of the fish and seafood, and one won’t overpower the other. In fact, I think in a lot of cases, Semillons are THE ideal seafood wine because there’s nothing too strong about it to take away from any of the other flavors you might be cooking with. Case in point: lobster. It has such a subtle, mellow, slightly sweet flavor that you don’t want to pair too heavy of a wine with it. Semillons make perfect sense with lobster: steamed on its own, with a Cognac-splashed bisque, even something crazy, like say wrapping a lobster tail in bacon, grilling it, and then topping it with Bernaise sauce. Semillon would go awesome with that. It’s a total Bernaise sauce wine.”
“So if you’re not the kind of person who does lobster or seafood, you can always try a real nice piece of fish with a dry Semillon. And of course you need to find a way to pump that fish up flavor-wise. You just don’t want to go around eating bland cooked fish by itself. So try this: either a sea bass or a sea bream done Provencal style. You filet the whole fish, gut it and remove the bones, then stuff the insides with fennel, green olives, tomatoes, red peppers, lemon and olive oil. Some recipes will have you wrap that in parchment paper and then roast it, but I say forget the paper. Let it roast naked and get a nice crispy char on its skin. That is going to be some divine, heavenly fish right there, and it’s going to match really, really nicely with a Semillon, especially when the natural sweetness of the fennel and vegetables comes out.”
“Now, the classic pairing with a Sauternes has always been foie gras, and I’m not about to disparage hundreds of years of classical French cooking by telling you not to do that. You should. The two are epic together and absolutely made for each other. But we can’t all afford foie gras every time we open a Sauternes, so there are some other ways to go here. First, crepes Suzette. You’re going to find similar flavors in both – the burnt, caramelized orange, the brown sugar, the butter – so they’ll really pair well together. And second, apple fritters. I know, crazy, but hear me out. A Sauternes is going to go wonderfully with the thick, crisp, buttery, sweetly glazed outer shell of a fritter. The citrus and honey is just going to cut right through that thing like a hot knife through a donut. But if you’ve got a really good apple fritter, spiked with cinnamon and nutmeg and a little bit of cloves and of course some big, soft chunks of apple inside, the Sauternes is going to do headstands and backflips for you and taste
like a completely different wine when you get into the middle of your fritter. Seriously, crack open that 375 of Sauternes next time
you’re in the donut shop. Don’t be afraid.”
Chef Brein Clements is the chef/owner of Restaurant Omakase in Riverside, CA, which
is quickly becoming SoCal’s answer to El Bulli. Minus the molecular gastronomy. He
began his cooking career at Domaine Chandon in the Napa Valley and moved on to become
Chef de Cuisine at the famed Balboa Bay Club before opening his own restaurant. Plus
he’s only 27. My man knows his wine and he knows his food. Each week he’ll provide
ingredient and dish recommendations that match up well with the week’s forgotten
grape. You should heed what he says. No, seriously, heed it.
Go On. Try It. You’ll Like It. 
2006 Peter Lehmann “The Barossa” Semillon
This Australian Semillon is not from the Hunter Valley, but from the Barossa Valley.
Still it’s a fine example of Aussie execution of Semillon, especially for the price.
This is a dry, crisp, bright wine with guava and mandarin orange on the nose and
a very dry, sharp slightly acidic flavor. It’s like squeezing a lime into a glass,
but it finishes super clean. Our good Friends at Liquorama have this in stock now,
along with a couple of other dry Australian Semillons from the Margaret River and
Hunter valley appellations. We recommend picking all three up and drinking your way
through the different terroir of Oz via Semillon. Fun to drink and educational? We
can totally get behind that!
2007 Elena Russian River Valley Semillon
Though Semillon’s popularity as a primary wine grape has slipped in California (oddly,
it’s increased in Washington state, where the wetter and cooler weather actually
produces terrific conditions for growing Semillon), you can still find the occasional
100% dry Semillon wine produced in the Golden State. And in most cases, the wine
will be a massive value in terms of price-to-quality. This Elena Semillon from Sonoma’s
Russian River valley is no exception. Lots of lemon and a little bit of yeast on
the nose (almost like a sourdough starter), it starts off a little bit sweet on the
tongue before going bone dry with a crisp pineapple flavor. It lingers a bit longer
on the palate than most Semillons, and at 14.3% ABV, it’s got more kick than these
wines typically do. Bevmo.com is your hook-up for this hot little bargain, so pick
some up before the secret gets out and the price goes up. Or you have to travel up
to Walla Walla to find an alternative.
2001 Chateau Lamothe-Guignard Sauternes
Looking for a way to try Sauternes without having to ask the Government for bail-out
money after you do so? Check out this affordable beauty that you can try and enjoy
regularly without having to sign away your entire paycheck away to your neighborhood
wine shop. With Sauternes, two rules apply: 1.) the vintage year is often more important
than the producer, and 2.) no matter if its producer is Premier Cru Superieur, Premier
Cru, or Deuxiemes Cru (the three classifications for Sauternes producers in Bordeaux,
and there are only 27 total wineries classified as such), it’s still going to be
awfully good. With the 2001 Chateau Lamothe-Guignard, what you’ll get for not a lot
of money is a half bottle of a Deuxieme Cru Sauternes from perhaps the greatest Sauternes
vintage in the past 3 decades. You should buy several to
hold onto and a few to drink now, but either way, there’s no reason for you not to
be buying this wine. The fine folks at Napacabs.com have
this available now at a steal, so pick up a whole bunch, hide a
few away to drink in a few years or decades, and enjoy the
rest whenever you need to feel more decadent or opulent
about yourself.
Think you’ve got a better pop culture icon to describe Semillon than what we came up with? Let us know in our Comments section. If it’s good enough, we may use it in a future update.
Taste, smell, or see something different? Let us know in our Comments section.
Know something about Semillon that we don’t? Share it with us and other wine lovers out there in our Comments section.
Think you can pair food and wines better than Brein can? Share your best food pairings with Semillon in our Comments section and see what the master has to say.
Our Friend of the Forgotten Grapes Tasting Squadron tastes all of these wines ahead
of time to ensure that you aren’t getting anything rotten or any clunkers. We also
try to ensure that all the wines highlighted here are affordably priced ($20 or less)
so you can try them out for yourself without having to take out a second mortgage
or sacrificing your kid (or future kid’s) college fund to do so. Lastly, the Friends
of the Forgotten Grapes has relationships with all the fine wine purveyors we link
to in this section. We know them, we trust them. You can order these wines from them
online right now and be trying them out in the next couple of days. Do yourself a
favor and order from them by using the links below. It’s totally worth it.
We were tempted to post the “It’s not easy being green” photo here again, since dry Semillons can often have a pale green color similar to the one Grüner Veltliners exhibit, but you people aren’t paying us for repetition; you’re paying us for originality. Actually, you’re not paying us at all, but that’s neither here nor there. Most dry Semillons typically have a very pale straw color to them, nearly clear in the glass save for the slightest tint of yellow shifting them away from the absence of color (or is that the fullness of color – I can never remember whether white or black or both of them or neither is the absence of color. Then again, it really doesn’t matter).
Sauternes-style Semillons, on the other hand, practically glow in the bottle: a radiant, shimmering gold like bullion bricks. Bright, rich, thick, and warm, it’s an unmistakable color, and the deeper the gold in a Sauternes, the more concentrated and better the wine will be.
Know of a bottle of Semillon that we should try? Tell us about it in our Comments section.
